The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the Arab League joined efforts to draw up an action plan targeted specifically at boosting the ability of managing natural resources in sustainable manner as well as tackling environmental challenges across the 22 countries of the Arab region.
A new memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed by UNEP Deputy Executive Director Ibrahim Thiaw and the Head of Department of Environment, Housing and Water Ressources and Sustainable Development in the Arab League Jamaleddine Jaballah, at the 51st Meeting of the Council of Arab Ministers Responsible for the Environment (CAMRE), held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 9 November.
The MOU, which builds upon a previous agreement signed in 1986, has been the milestone of continuing years-long strong cooperation between UNEP and the Arab League.
It mirrors the two organizations’ parallel priorities and responds to the outcomes of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in June 2012, in which the UNEP played an indispensable role in safeguarding the environment at a global level.
UNEP and the Arab League agreed upon effective, precise mechanisms in a bid to reinforce the planning and implementation of global and regional programs in the region.
The action plan takes into account a slew of crucial environmental concerns in all levels covering the green economy, post conflict assessments and recovery, climate change, water resources, biodiversity, sustainable consumption and production and environmental governance.
The terms of the new MOU set out on the basis of the joint UN-Arab League strategic priorities for economic, social and environmental clusters for the period 2013-2017.
The memorandum also implements the outcomes and decisions reached by the relevant specialized Arab Ministerial Councils and their subsidiaries committees/groups that intersects with UNEP mandate and Program of Work in particular the Council of Arab Ministers Responsible for Environment (CAMRE) and the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN).
The Arab Ministerial Council had just wrapped up its 26th session in 10 November in Jeddah maintaining an active dialogue on the Sustainable Development Initiative in the Arab Region in addition to in-depth discussions about the annual UN Conference on Sustainable Development.
